Nailing mechanism



Nov. 3, 1942. F. N. LA CHAPE LLE MAILING MECHANISM File dvApril 19, 1941 Patented Nov. 3, 1942 UNlTED ST NAILING MECHANISM Fred N. La Chapelle, Beverly, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemingtcn, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application April 19, 1941, Serial No. 389,383

10 Claims.

This invention relates to mechanism by which nails are inserted to secure work-pieces, it being of special utility in connection with the attachment of heels to shoes by nails driven from within.

In the inside nailing of heels, which is usually applied to womens work and in which said heels are often quite sharply curved inwardly from the cup to the tread-end, it is customary to impart to the nails, in driving, an inward inclination from the heel-seat toward the tread. The nail-heads may thus be kept relatively close to the crease, and breaking through the periphery of the hee'i by the nail-points is avoided. This is commonly effected by so inclining the nail-engaging ends of vertically reciprocatory ,drivers that the nailshanks rest against the inner sides of the driverpassages in the work-supporting jack, and the nail-points enter the insole at this inclination As the penetration of a nailis resisted by the heel, the inclination increases, but the head of the nail, held by the engagement of the driver-end, travels substantially vertically. The difference in the direction of movement bends the nail-shank quite early in its advance, and an outward strain is thrown upon the heel which may split it. Then, too, the inclined end of the driver does notproperly sink the nail-head in the insole.

An object of my invention is to obtain the desired inclination of the shank of a nail during driving, without setting up rupturing stresses in the material which it enters, and at the same time to sink the nail-head substantially flush with the receiving surface. To this end, I com bine with a member, as a shoe-supporting jack having a work-engaging surface and provided 'with a nail-receiving passage opening through the surface and inclined with respect thereto, a nail-driver movable in the passage in a direction substantially at right-angles to the work-engaging surface. The passage holds'the shank of the nail at the chosen angle and against lateral movement, and has a connected portion, the driver being movable in both the shank-receiving portion and in the connected portion of the passage. Herein, the passage is shown as having intersecting portions extending in difierent directions to form an inclined space at their intersection. As applied to the jack of a heel-attaching machine, one portion of the passage is vertical or parallel to the axis of the jack, while the intersecting portion is inclined inwardly and upwardly with respect to the axis. At their intersection, the passage-portions form a channel to receive the nail-shank, presenting it to the work in the desired direction and there maintaining itduring driving, without exerting any destructive force upon the heel. In the portion which is vertical the driver is movable, this driver preferably being in the form of a bar having its end extended horizontally, so engagement with the nail-head is maintained as the driving proceeds. I prefer to employ a nail having a head of cross-shape, the arms of the cross extending into the portions of the nail-receiving passage radiating from their intersection. The arms furnish a sufiiciently extended surface to receive contact of the end ,of the driver as the nail-head shifts laterally, and gives proper retaining means for engagement withthe insole of the shoe being heeled.

' One of the several possible embodiments of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. l is :a central vertical longitudinalsection, through my improved nailing mechanism, the drivers being shown .in their initial positions ready for the insertion of the nails;

Fig. 2, a like detail, enlarged, of oneof the drivers;

Fig. 3, a view similar to Fig. 1,'but 0f the upper portionof the jack, illustrating the final inserting position of the drivers;

Fig. 4, a top plan view of the jacl:;'

Fig. 5, a similar enlarged detail of one of ,ithe passages with a nail in place;

Fig. 6, a broken perspective View of one of the drivers; and

Fig. '7, a like View of one of the nails to be used with the mechanism-of this invention.

At I'll appears the jack-post of a wood-heelattaching machine, upon which post is carried a separable jack-body 12, having a block or top M. In the jack-body are a plurality of vertical cylindrical passages [6, arranged in accordance with the nailing design to'be employed. Guided in the body, in alinement with each passage, is the stem l8 of a driver fixed in the upper extremityof an actuating plunger '20 reciprocating vertically in the post I0. Upon each stem [-8 is a head 22, having rising from it a driver-bar or blade 24. In horizontal section, the driver-bar is shown as rectangular, the length inthe direction of the center of the block l4 being considerably greater than the width. The nail-engaging surface of the bar at 26 may besubstantially horizontal. The upper end of the bar lies within a vertical portion 28 of a passage in the block I4, in which it fits. Each 'of these passageportions is furnished by a slot which extends from a point within the periphery of the block toward the center. It is intersected inwardly from its longitudinal center by a slot 30 furnishing another portion of the passage, this being also rectangular but of less length than the companion slot. The slot 30 is inclined upwardly and inwardly, its upper and lower extremities coming within the ends of the slot 28 (Fig. 2). At the intersection of the slots 28 and 3!], there is formed an inclined space or channel 32, of the proper transverse dimensions to receive the shank n of the nail N to be used, the cylindrical periphery of said shank extending into the portions of the slots radiating from the channel. The head of the nail is preferably in the shape of a cross, having four arms a radiating from the shank, and of such dimensions that they may lie within the slots 28 and 30. The outer sides of the arms a may be flat, one pair being for engagement by the end 26 of the driver-bar 24. The inner side of the arms may be curved or pointed at b (Fig. '7) to more readily enter the insole of a shoe being heeled. The distance between the surface 25 in the normal position of the driver and the upper-end of the channel 32 is such that a nail,

supported upon the driver, may lie with its point somewhat separated from the insole of a shoe S, to which a heel H is to be attached (Figs. 1 and 2).

In using the mechanism of this invention, a nail N is supplied to each of the compound passages 28, 30, its head resting at one extremity of an arm a upon the driver-surface 26 at a point removed from the inner end of the slot 28, considered horizontally. Its shank 7?. lies along the channel 32 at the inward inclination of the transverse slot 30 of the driver-passage,'this giving the direction at which the nail is to be inserted in the work. A shoe S being jacked and a heel H applied to the heel-seat and clamped by a holddown P, the mechanism is set in operation, and the plunger 20 elevated with the driver-bars 24. The bar-surface 26 acting against the extremity of the inner nail-arm a forces the nail through the insole of the shoe, the shank proceeding unbent at the chosen angle and without imposing splitting force upon the heel. As the nail advances and its head moves toward the center of the jack, because of the angle of its path, the driving contact shifts along the horizontal surface 26 without much resistance. driver reaches the end of its stroke, the surface 26 is in a plane substantially parallel to the surface of the insole, and the nail-shank is bent somewhat adjacent to the head to sink the outer surfaces of the arms a uniformly in said insole.

At this time, the full length of the shank is within the heel, and no material lateral stress has been placed thereon. If desired, the point of the nail may have an inclined surface, which may be in a definite relation to the arms a, as alined longitudinally of the shank with one of said arms. By loading the nail into the jack-passage with this inclined surface and its locating arm at the outside, the nail may be deflected away from the periphery of the heel during insertion. This allows the entrance of the point of the nail to be located farther out, giving a tighter crease without danger of driving the nail through the wall of the heel.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a nailing mechanism, a member having a When the work-engaging surface and provided with a nailreceiving passage opening through said surface and inclined with respect thereto, and a naildriver movable in the passage in a direction substantially at right-angles to the Work-engaging surface.

2. In a nailing mechanism, a member having a work-engaging surface and provided with a nailreceiving passage opening through said surface and inclined with respect thereto, said passage holding the nail against turning about its longitudinal axis, and a nail-driver movable in the passage in a direction substantially at rightangles to the Work-engaging surface.

3. In a nailing mechanism, a member arranged for contact with the work and provided with a passage having intersecting nail-receiving portions extending longitudinally in difierent directions to form an inclined space at their intersection, and a nail-driver movable in one of said portions.

4. In a mechanism for driving a nail having a plurality of arms radiating from its shank, a member arranged for contact with the work and provided with a passage having radiating portions corresponding to each of the arms of the nail-head, and a nail-driver movable in opposite radiating portions of the passage.

5. In a heel-attaching machine, a jack having nail-receiving passages inclined inwardly toward -'the axis and upwardly, and a driver movable through each passage in a direction substantially parallel to the axis of the jack.

6. In a heel-attaching machine, a jack having nail-receiving passages, each formed by intersecting slots, one of which is vertical and extends toward the center of the jack while the other is inclined inwardly and upwardly, and a driver movable in the vertical passage.

7. In a heel-attaching machine, a jack having nail-receiving passages, each formed by intersecting slots, one of which is vertical and extends toward the center of the jack while the other is inclined inwardly and upwardly, and a driver movable in the vertical passage with its nail-engaging end extended horizontally through a distance at least as great as the inclination of the passage.

8. In a heel-attaching machine, a jack having nail-receiving passages each formed by intersecting slots, one of which has a greater horizontal length than the other, and a driver-bar movable in the longer of the slots.

9. In a machine for attaching heels to shoes by nails having shanks upon which are crossshaped heads, a jack having passages each formed by intersecting slots which receive the nail-heads, and a driver-bar movable in one of the slots.

10. In a machine for attaching heels to shoes by nails having shanks upon which are crossshaped heads, a jack having passages each formed by intersecting slots, one of which has a greater horizontal length than the other and extends toward the center of the jack while the other is inclined inwardly and upwardly, the shank of the nail lying in the intersection of the slots and the arms of the nail-head being received by the slots, and a driver-bar movable in the longer of the slots and provided with a substantially horizontal nail-engaging end.

FRED N. LA CHAPELLE. 

